Having used a fair number of mice this one felt the strangest yet. Right from
the beginning I knew I was in for something special. The mouse arrived in a
retail-style box decked out in Razer's signature black and green colors with
their tri-serpent logo, listing the mouse's impressive specifications. A
transparent blister pack gives the potential buyer a good 360-degree view of the
mouse. On the left-hand side of the box is a window showing the free Neoprene
LAN pack storage case included with the Diamondback. The rear of the packaging
offers some quick specifications and features of the mouse. It would be hard to ignore
or miss this box hanging from a display rack in your local computer store!

There's no doubt that Razer designed this to be a hi-performance mouse for both
right and left-handed enthusiasts and power-users. The transparent housing is
smoked black injection molded chassis that allows viewing of the electronics
stashed inside. With the Ice blue light illuminating from the inside out, the
Plasma Limited Edition is visually stunning mice. The LED inside the mouse is
bright, but it is not offensive. I should mention that
Diamondback Plasma LE uses an infrared sensor which supposedly is even more
sensitive for tracking on a mouse pad. The Infrared also does not emit any
color, so you won't see the typical blinding red beam coming out of the bottom
of the mouse.

The two main buttons are massive and cover roughly half the surface of the
mouse. The buttons are quite sensitive and easy to click and the scroll wheel
has a nice crisp feel to it. There are two side buttons on the sides of the
mouse as well, and a pretty lit up scroll wheel that functions as another
button. The buttons are pretty useful, as they are fully configurable using the
supplied Razer software. However, the only complaint would be the stiffness of
the buttons. Partly due to their placement, these buttons are pretty hard to
press down. I'm also not found of the small plastic grooves used to help locate
the two buttons. This is mainly because it is really just one piece of plastic
rather than two individual buttons. I would have preferred two independent,
low-profile buttons.

A comparison of sizes. From the left, MX510, Diamondback Plasma LE and MX
300.

The cord attached to the Diamondback Plasma LE is a full seven feet with a gold
plated USB connector on the end. Seven feet is more than enough cord for anyone
but useful if your gaming machine isn't right next to your monitor (my PC is
sitting on the floor under my desk).

Installation is as simple as can be. Just plug the gold-plated USB connector
into a USB port and load the drivers from the driver disc. You can use the
enclosed CD, but I strongly recommend that you head out to
Razer's website and
download the latest version of the Diamondback Drivers. The Razer control center
allows you to change pretty much everything about the mouse - the sensitivity of
motion and your wheel, the mouse's DPI, the mouse acceleration, etc. You can also
remap the buttons to whatever you want.

I've been testing this mouse out among a variety of applications, including
Photoshop CS, Dungeon Siege II, BloodRayne 2, Battlefield 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Half-Life
2, CS:Source, Painkiller, Sacred Underworld, Restricted Area, and a lot of
internet browsing in between. The sensitivity of this mouse is twice that of
ordinary 800dpi devices, so prepare for some weird impressions in the first few
hours of play - you will have to re-train yourself to use a mouse of this
speed and accuracy. It takes some time getting use to it, but that's nothing to
worry about :) The high optical resolution is pretty useful when making minor
adjustments to your aim in games such as Counter-strike, allowing you to shoot
with precision even at a distance.

I we got exactly the response I would expect, the mouse is
extremely precise and works without flaw. It's definitely the most responsive
mouse I've ever tested!

The only complaint, once again, would
be the side buttons, which were slightly too stiff to be used. For games, I
rather disabled the side buttons. That's not a big problem for me since I don't
use them either. However, there are a number of reasons why I prefer my old MX 300 over the
Diamondback Plasma LE. It's not because its size and weight (which is almost the same).
The main reason is that I use a mouse very
differently to most people. Whereas the majority of mouse users will hold the
device in their hand and move it around from the shoulder, I rest the heel of my
hand on the desktop and move the mouse with my thumb and ring finger.
Unfortunately, I found
that the Diamondback Plasma LE don't fit my hand/fingers so good like the old
good MX 300. Of
course, it doesn't mean the mouse is bad!! Most normal people with a medium
sized hand (who hold the
mouse properly) will find this mouse comfortable.

Cons
- some gamers may find the placement of the side buttons awkward
- no PS2 support (USB only)!!!
- not for fans of heavy mice

Overall, Diamondback Plasma LE is the best for all the first person shooters
as well as high end graphics manipulation guru's out there. It takes some time getting use to it, but that's nothing to worry about.
If you like to play games and you are thinking about getting a gaming mouse, the
Razer Diamondback is a great choice.